


The Past Catches Up

by vassalady



Category: Captain America (Movies)
Genre: Audio Format: MP3, F/M, Ficlet, Podfic, Podfic Length: 0-10 Minutes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-06-20
Updated: 2013-06-20
Packaged: 2017-12-15 14:11:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 464
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/850475
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/vassalady/pseuds/vassalady
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>They defeat the Winter Soldier, and Steve and Natasha don't know what the future will be like. Natasha, however, dreams.</p>
<p>(text and podfic)</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Past Catches Up

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted on [tumblr](http://vassalady.tumblr.com/post/38477457229).
> 
> Length: 3:48  
> Cover by me  
> Music: Dmitri Shostakovich - Waltz No. 2
> 
> I should do more with this sometime, shouldn't I?

Download (Mediafire): [MP3](http://www.mediafire.com/?k0ctntf4m5j53z4) (3.6MB)

~~

Steve sighs into Natasha’s hair. He’s trying his best not to break down. He’s on the edge, though, standing there in the hospital with Bucky - _Bucky_ , however the hell he was even alive - in ICU.

He tries not to think about the Winter Soldier, what that means for Bucky, for all those years that Steve was asleep, for what it’ll do to Bucky’s mind when he wakes up.

Natasha rubs his back. “He’ll be fine,” she says. “He’ll pull through.”

That’s not what Steve’s worried about, and he’s sure Natasha knows that. But she doesn’t do emotions, she’s told him many times, often covered in sweat and riding out their orgasms. But even so, she still shows she cares, not in words, but in her actions. Holding onto her like she’s a lifesaver is more than enough; the way she trails her hands over his body tells him that she knows and understands.

He’ll pull through, not just his body but his mind, too. We’ll pull through.

Steve tries not to think too much at all. But he keeps recalling fighting the Winter Soldier, neither of them pulling any punches. And then Natasha came in, striking the Winter Soldier - striking Bucky - hard in the head, forcing him to collapse. She looked up at Steve and said, “Cognitive recalibration.” Clint snorted.

Steve didn’t quite understand then. He thinks it’s because he didn’t want to accept that this was Bucky.

 

Natasha wishes she could say more, do more. But nothing she could say would help alleviate Steve’s fears. If anything, it would make them worse.

One day, she plans to explain. One Bucky has recovered (and he will, she knows he will, he’s strong), they can sit down, the three of them, and explain everything.

As much as Steve is clinging to her for comfort, she does the same, although she doesn’t want him to know that. Not yet, at least.

She kisses Steve slowly, and it’s completely unlike when she used to do the same with the Winter Soldier. This is perhaps the last chance she will have to share this intimacy with him in a while.

The woman who once loved the Winter Soldier is at once still and not anymore Natasha. She wants Steve to understand that, but she hasn’t figured out how yet.

A thought comes to her as she returns to rubbing Steve’s back. She thinks of Steve, of Bucky, and imagines both of them with her, slick skin sliding together, breathing heavy, open kisses against skin, hands running over bodies.

It’s inappropriate, both as a desire and for the moment. Like most things, she takes it, analyzes it for a moment, categorizes it, and stores it away, to be retrieved again on her own time.


End file.
